It appears the NBA is moving closer to the launch of an aggregated hub for local broadcasts, and YouTube is the “leading candidate” to host the service.
According to a report by Tom Friend in Sports Business Journal, NBA commissioner Adam Silver expects the league’s centralized local broadcast streaming service to launch for the 2027-28 season. Friend indicates that YouTube is the top candidate to host the service, citing sources.
This year, the 13 NBA teams abandoned by FanDuel Sports Network following the collapse of parent company Main Street Sports Group will presumably sign one-year pacts with either over-the-air broadcast networks, a streaming platform, or a combination of both. The Heat, Pistons, and Bucks have already gone the over-the-air route, while the other 10 teams, the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Thunder, Magic, and Spurs, have yet to announce their local broadcast setups for 2026-27.
Friend predicts that a centralized local broadcast hub could attract more than 20 teams come 2027-28: the 13 former Main Street teams, the four teams still on NBC Sports RSNs (the Celtics, Warriors, Sixers, and Kings), and the five teams that were on over-the-air deals prior to this offseason (the Jazz, Suns, Trail Blazers, Pelicans, and Mavericks).
The value this model could bring in will be largely dependent on which major market teams it could attract. If the league can convince a team like the Lakers or Knicks to join, a company like YouTube will be willing to pay a higher rights fee for the service. For that to happen, the NBA will need to create a model to make the economics work for its marquee teams. The Lakers, for instance, are set to rake in about $200 million per season over the next two seasons as part of an ongoing deal with Charter’s Spectrum SportsNet.
Crucially, Friend reports that the aggregated local broadcast hub will “likely be geofenced,” meaning that fans will only have access to teams within their market. Fans looking to access out-of-market games would still need to do so through NBA League Pass, which is housed on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.